California Hospital Association Sues HHS

Governor Brown signed a new law that is retro-active to June 1st, and the federal government approved, so does this mean hospitals and doctors will have to pay back payments they have already received? I don’t see where this is going to allow greater access at all as many doctors will not see Medi-Cal patients already and this will make it worse. For Medi-Cal patients who are under an HMO umbrella it’s even worse for compensation rates.

Governor Brown signed a new law that is retro-active to June 1st, and the federal government approved, so does this mean hospitals and doctors will have to pay back payments they have already received? I don’t see where this is going to allow greater access at all as many doctors will not see Medi-Cal patients already and this will make it worse. For Medi-Cal patients who are under an HMO umbrella it’s even worse for compensation rates.

The lawsuit also names Toby Douglas the department director in this area for HHS. This gets stranger all the time as a law is passed and we have hospitals going broke or in the red all over the place. What will be the future of Medi-Cal? California is already at the bottom of the barrel when compared to what doctors and hospitals receive in other states from Medicaid. When the Supreme Court rules on the Healthcare Law, which when it was created we had a different set of economic standards in place, they will need all the help they can get with compiling all the information they need, such as this lawsuit to be among one of the areas to be considered.

The trade group for California’s hospitals has sued state and federal officials to block a 10% cut in government reimbursements for healthcare providers who treat low-income patients.

The California Hospital Assn. said in its suit, filed in federal district court in Los Angeles, that cuts to the Medi-Cal insurance program will threaten the ability of many hospitals to continue operating skilled nursing facilities.

Patients, particularly those in rural communities and other medically underserved areas, will likely face delays or gaps in healthcare services, the lawsuit contends.

Other medical providers also have warned that cuts to the program, which is funded by state and federal governments, would deprive low-income patients of access to care. Among those targeted for the cuts are physicians, pharmacists and optometrists.